COLUMBUS, Ohio — Will Howard doesn’t know what his record is in college football games one would classify as a rivalry game, but he also knows it doesn’t matter.
What matters is what his record will be on Saturday afternoon when Ohio State’s game against Michigan concludes.
“This is definitely the biggest rivalry game I’ve ever played it,” Howard said.
That game is why he’s here and it’s the one that his predecessors have often been judged by, whether it’s fair or not. And it’s been a while since a Buckeye quarterback can say he didn’t fail that assignment. It puts him in the important position of solving a problem he didn’t create.
“When it comes to this rivalry there’s always a saying that you don’t know what you don’t know,” wide receiver Emeka Egbuka said. “No matter how much the freshmen think they know, they don’t really know. No matter how much the transfers think they know, they don’t really know. Until you play in this game and feel what it’s all about.
“I think Will understands that and he’s the closest to knowing what the game means without actually playing in this game. He has the entire right mindset going into it. He’s a leader that has what it takes to go into this game and win.”
Egbuka returned along with plenty of his fellow members of a 2021 class hoping to get one last chance at Michigan. They’d spent three years watching the Wolverines flip the rivalry back in their favor while reaching heights that the Buckeyes are now 10 years removed from achieving. They are all dealing with a burden they hope to lift when they take the field today.
Howard doesn’t have a burden. He doesn’t know what it feels like to fail at the No. 1 goal of a nationally prominent program and deal with the ramifications of that failure. But he’s gotten the next-closest thing by seeing it up close and personal. That’s all the motivation he’s needed to know how important today is.
“It hasn’t really been this week, for me it’s been all year,” Howard said. “Feeling how much this rivalry means and how deep it runs and how deep it cuts. You can look around the building and see the countdown clocks. From the moment I got here, it was different. You don’t wear blue in the building. You don’t say the ‘M’ word. All this stuff, I was like this is different. It’s not really a rivalry it’s more like a way of life.”
Howard has had to quickly learn what it means to be part of this program while dealing with all the good and bad that comes with it. The first 11 games have given him a taste of all of it while providing him chances to gain the adoration of the fanbase. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that he doesn’t have a deep emotional connection to a rivalry game that is completely built on raw emotion.
He’s not from Ohio, having grown up in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, rooting for a Penn State team that ultimately didn’t want him. He played in plenty of rivalry games at Kansas State, but none hold the same weight as this one. They don’t call it The Game for no reason.
Since this is his first — and only — chance to play in it, he doesn’t have an emotional attachment, yet. He’s neither trying to keep from feeling the pain of past losses nor trying to continue a winning streak. He’s just a fresh face trying to make a name for himself in a version of The Game that holds so much emotional baggage for practically every other player and coach in the program.
Howard is aware of all that, but it hasn’t kept him from diving in head-first with the level of hate he has for Michigan, because he has to. You don’t spend 11 months seeing how it can impact your teammates without some of it rubbing off on you.
“I’ve only been here for a year so I only know what I know,” Howard said. “What I do know is I love my brothers. They came back and they wanted this. They’ve felt the hurt the past couple of years. Coach (Ryan) Day’s felt it.
“Coach Day took a chance on me when he didn’t have to. There was some kickback, I bet, when I first committed here and he believed in me. I owe that guy a lot. I want to get this done for him. I want to get this done for those guys that decided to come back and believed in me to lead this football team because I’m forever indebted to those guys.”
Howard can wear his heart on his sleeve and has no problem owning that, even in the media. It’s probably how he’s been able to gain the trust of a veteran group so quickly. But whether he realizes it or not, he can gain something today, too.
There are the obvious tangible things such as thrusting himself into the Heisman Trophy conversation as his predecessors have often done. But his opportunity is more personal to the guy currently running the program.
Day has turned Ohio State into a quarterback factory. He’s coached two players who were Heisman finalists and first-round draft picks while landing practically any quarterback he wants on the recruiting trail. But he’s on his fourth starter and so far only one can say he beat Michigan, and he only got to do it once.
Right now, Justin Fields — who also just so happened to be in town last weekend — has the only win in The Game. Had the 2020 version not been canceled thanks to a COVID-19 outbreak at Michigan, maybe he’d have two. C.J. Stroud lost twice and Kyle McCord lost his only start before leaving for Syracuse.
Howard’s prize is joining Fields on the list of Wolverine conquerors. That’s his burden to carry into Ohio Stadium this afternoon. It’s the only thing missing from his “I’m a Buckeye” checklist. Along the way, he may be able to help a program, a fanbase and a state put the past behind them before moving on to bigger goals still left to accomplish.
“I don’t want to be half in on this thing,” Howard said. “If I’m gonna be a Buckeye, this is a big part of being a Buckeye. This game means everything.”